Butler County's sloppy response to "assassination attempt" record request

On October 31, I submitted at request under Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law, 65 P.S. § 66.1 et seq. to the County of Butler. The request was for “The coroner's docket for Corey Dean Comperatore”. In response, on November 4, the County provided a record. In a cover letter accompanying the record, the Butler County Open Records Officer described the record as the “View of Report” presumably short for “View of Body Report”. Notably, the cover letter began:

Thank you for writing to Butler County Open Records with your requests for records pursuant to Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law (“RTKL”), 65 P.S. §§ 67.101 et seq. On August 12, 2024, we received the attached request. 

Thank you for writing to the Butler County, Pa., Right-to-Know Officer with your request for information pursuant to the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know law.  On November 1, 2024, we received the attached request.

Emphasis is added.

The date of the request was obviously false. Thus, On November 7, I objected to the County’s response and requested for the County to correct their response. To date, the County has not agreed to provide a corrected response. Therefore, in an effort to resolve this issue, I appealed the matter to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records. The case has been assigned docket number 2024-2848. On November 12, I agreed to participate in a mediation process.

It is not clear why Butler County has not been able to correct an obviously false statement in a response to a record request. In particular, it is not clear if this is simple bureaucrat petulance or a sign of impropriety. The Office of Open Records appeal is intended to clarify that issue.